Software Lead Weekly

Culture

Dan Ariely with a fascinating (TED) talk. What I enjoy most about Dan's stories is that they are always interesting, creative and above all, practical! You can apply some of his tips to motivate your teammates tomorrow morning. This week's favorite!

Building a strong management team is key for building scalable companies, ones that can grow quickly without losing their unfair advantage. Eric's tip on hiring for the short term is refreshing and important, at least in terms of setting expectations.

Katherine Schreiber with a great action list you can follow to increase job satisfaction. My thoughts: most companies have a person "responsible" for happiness (HR? management?). I urge you to let everyone be responsible of something, any thing, when it comes to your team's happiness. Let someone be responsible of arranging your fridge supply (with weekly surprises?), decorate the office with silly things, or arrange a crazy party to celebrate a milestone. You can even switch between people and let everyone see how hard yet rewarding it can be.

Peopleware

I'm definitely going to steal this template from Ryan and Mike (from Treehouse). This is a great way to strategize and focus, while still aiming for concrete action items, instead of bullshit goals. Highly recommended!

I had to add this post by Ryan Carson (Treehouse's CEO). After reading his 90 Day Plan, this post is a great step forward in creating effective 1:1 with your management team. Loved his view on "Manage activities, not people". Share it with your management team and have a discussion.

Retrospection

Running a profitable business for over 7 years is huge accomplishment, no matter how you look at it. That being said, if you're building a VC-backed company, I suggest reading Andy's story on focus, timing and strategy.